


A Secret She Sees

by flipflop_diva



Series: The Ties That Bind [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Backstory, Collection: Purimgifts Day 2, Family, Gen, Natasha Romanov Feels, POV Natasha Romanov, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-01
Updated: 2018-03-01
Packaged: 2019-03-23 19:24:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13794570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flipflop_diva/pseuds/flipflop_diva
Summary: Natasha was twenty years old the first time she began to understand what having a family looked like.Part 2 of 3





	A Secret She Sees

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raving_liberal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raving_liberal/gifts).



Natasha was twenty years old the first time she began to understand what having a family looked like.

She had been at SHIELD for a year, but except for missions, she had rarely left the Triskelion. For the first six months, it had been because no one trusted her enough to let her out of their sight. No one said anything about it to her directly, but she could tell by the way people looked at her when they passed her in the halls that they all thought she would betray them the second she got a chance.

The next sixth months, Phil Coulson, her handler, had given her permission to take a day off here and there, but she had never taken him up on the offer. Her whole life had been based around training and missions. She didn’t know what to do, where to go, if she didn’t have those, so she stayed where she was and beat people up in the gym when they’d let her spar with them.

But the holidays were approaching, and all around her, agents were discussing plans with families and friends. Natasha knew they probably expected her to go somewhere too, but she really just wanted to be left alone to do her own thing.

That didn’t happen though.

She returned to her room at the Triskelion after an intense workout only to find Clint standing at her door, leaning against the frame, waiting for her.

“Get packed,” he told her when he spotted her. “We leave in an hour.”

“A mission?” she said. Neither Coulson nor Fury had mentioned anything to her.

“Nope. Something better.”

She frowned at him, but Clint just smirked at her and set off back down the hall.

“One hour!” he called back over his shoulder as he went.

Natasha watched him go, biting on her lower lip as she did. Besides Coulson, Clint was the only person at SHIELD who was decent to her. And the only one she felt wouldn’t try to kill her if he had the chance. He told her often that he could be her friend if she let him, but she wasn’t sure why anyone would want that.

Watching him go, she weighed the options in her head. She really didn’t want to go with him. But she also didn’t want to refuse to do what he asked. If he really could be her friend … well, Natasha had never really had a friend before. She didn’t want to offend her first one.

Natasha sighed, but she knew what she had to do. She picked out a few items of clothes to wear, shoved them in a bag and was standing in front of Clint’s room forty-five minutes later, ready to go wherever he wanted to take her.

•••

It turned out Clint was married. And he and his wife, Laura, owned a farm somewhere in the middle of America.

She tried to wrap her mind around everything Clint was telling her, as he piloted the Quinjet that Fury had let him borrow. He had been married for just over a year. No one knew except Coulson and Fury.

And now her.

“Why?” Natasha asked him as they flew, trying to understand.

Clint glanced over at her and smiled, that same smile he always gave her when she was confused or unsure.

“Because I trust you,” he said simply. “And I’ve told Laura so much about you. She wants to meet you.”

Natasha wanted to tell him that this didn’t seem like a smart move, to bring a trained assassin to his secret home, but she couldn’t speak. Words wouldn’t form. The idea that someone could trust her enough to share themselves with her …

She blinked her eyes quickly, ridding herself of the slight prick she felt behind them.

“Okay,” was all she said.

•••

Natasha had never been a guest in someone’s home before. Not really anyway. She had posed as many guests during missions over the years, but she had never been invited to spend time with a family as just her. As just Natasha.

Laura and Clint had set up a room just for her to stay in the two weeks they were there. They had even put a red comforter on the bed because Natasha had once told Clint she liked that color. The little room had a bookshelf full of books, her own bathroom and a rocking chair she could sit in to stare out the window at the fields covered with snow.

“I’m sorry it’s not much,” Laura said to her the first night. She must have noticed Natasha looking around, at the pictures on the walls and the cracks in the paint and the furniture that was a little worn down.

“No,” Natasha said. “It’s perfect.”

She spent a lot of time in her little room those weeks. But at other times, she watched Clint and Laura. Watched the way they looked at each other and whispered to each other. Watched their easy smiles when the other was around. Watched the way Clint would touch Laura’s arm or rest his hand on the small of her back. The way Laura would peck him on the lips, her eyes twinkling when she laughed at something he said.

On the day Clint and Natasha headed back to SHIELD, Laura slipped a tiny wrapped package into Natasha’s hand as she gave her a gentle hug.

“Open it when you get back,” she told her.

That night, alone in her room, Natasha opened her gift. The first gift she could remember ever being given. Inside, nestled on a bed of cotton, was a thin gold necklace, and hanging from the necklace was a golden arrow.

“To remind you that you aren’t alone,” said the note inside the box.

Natasha stared at the note for a long time that night, until finally, she slipped the necklace on and fell asleep, the note still clutched in her hand.

She wasn’t really sure what having a family was supposed to feel like, but she thought maybe it was something like this.

**Author's Note:**

> 


End file.
